COLUMBUS, Ohio _ Columbus ran off seven unanswered goals _ three by long-time Penguins nemesis Scott Hartnell _ during a dominant 7-1 victory against the Penguins at Nationwide Arena Thursday.
The victory extended the Blue Jackets' winning streak to 11, a franchise record, and lifted them past the Penguins and into a tie with Chicago for first place in the overall standings.
The Penguins (21-8-5) lost in regulation for the first time in 11 games.
Sidney Crosby gave the Penguins their only lead, 1-0, at 2:39 of the opening period, when he swatted his own rebound past Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky for his league-leading 23rd goal of the season.
It was the third Crosby has scored in December by knocking the puck out of the air.
Ian Cole and Conor Sheary received assists.
Columbus didn't get a shot on Penguins goalie Matt Murray until more than eight minutes had passed, but capitalized on a four-minute power play to tie the game at 13:01 of the first.
Cole was serving a double-minor for high-sticking when Nick Foligno slid a cross-ice pass to Cam Atkinson, who was to the left of the crease and threw a shot into the net before Murray could make it to the near post.
Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin had left his feet in a futile attempt to knock the puck away from Foligno before he fed it to Atkinson.
The Penguins had killed 15 consecutive short-handed situations during the previous five games, while Columbus entered the game with a league-best conversion rate of 27.1 percent on the power play.
The Blue Jackets went in front, 2-1, at 10:15 of the second period, as William Karlsson threw a backhander past Murray from the front edge of the crease.
Play continued for 13 seconds, but televised replays confirmed that Karlsson's shot had made it into the net.
Columbus made it 3-1 at 12:20, when Hartnell outraced Penguins defenseman Derrick Pouliot to a puck in the left circle, then went to the net and tossed a backhander by Murray.
The Penguins have been an excellent third-period team all season, but Columbus put the game away by scoring three times in 51 seconds early in those final 20 minutes.
Hartnell scored from the left hash at 2:44, Brandon Saad beat Murray from inside the right circle at 3:01 and Boone Jenner put in a shot from the left dot at 3:35 to put Columbus up, 6-1, and drive Murray to the bench.
His replacement, Marc-Andre Fleury, didn't exactly get eased into the game, as Hartnell completed his hat trick at 6:24.
